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California Mennonite Historical Society Bulletin
Mennonite Folkways:
The Polish-Prussian Mennonite
by Norma fast Voth
N
On New Year's Day
the sweet aroma of
Portselkje (raisin
fritters) frying filled
my grandmother's
kitchen.
apoleon's French
soldiers, winter
quartering in the
Vistula Delta (then
West Prussia) in the early 1880s
spoke sarcastically of their surroundings as the "Schmalzgrube"
or "Schmalzinsel" l-the "lard
pit" or the "lard island," likely
referring to the delta farmers' love
of pork-long sausages, smoked
hams, cracklings.
When the first Mennonites
left the Netherlands in the 1530s
and migrated to the Vistula Delta
near Danzig, they, like most early
immigrants, maintained a solid
Dutch kitchen, bringing with them
the food patterns from their
villages and cities. They remained
Dutch for a very long time, even
persisting in using the Dutch
language in the pulpit for two full
centuries. 2 The lowlands along the
Vistula River were known as the
Dutch area.
The Mennonite kitchen, as
we remember it, reflects a surprisingly strong influence of the years
spent in the Vistula Delta. Many
familiar dishes we may identify as
German or Russian are historically
Pruss ian and became a part of our
cuisine during those years.
While the newcomers to
the delta had eaten pork in
Holland, there they had also
enjoyed fish (fresh and dried),
poultry and game. Certainly the
pork diet was strengthened by the
surroundings Prussian neighbors'
preference for pork. It was economical and convenient. Smoked
or cured, a meal could be assembled quickly. Every farm
family butchered in late autumn
when the weather turned cooler.
Ham, spareribs, cracklings,
smoked sausage, Siltkjees (head
cheese) and Silifleesch (prepared in
a pickling solution and eaten with
raw-sliced onions and fried
potatoes) remained a part of our
culinary heritage into the pioneering years in North America.
"The Mennonites were big
pork eaters," said the late historian Gerhard Lohrenz. "When we
came to Canada we didn't know
how to cook beef," commented
Tina Harder Peters, Steinbach,
Manitoba. My husband, Alden,
remembers Schmolt (lard) and
syrup sandwiches in his lunch pail
as a school boy.
Delta households were
known for thrift; daily menus
were simple, robust and often
starchy, with noodle-type dishes.
In West Prussia we learned about
their flour-based Kjielkje, Klose and
Kjlieta (small hand-rubbed dumplings added to soups). Kjielkje
makers say they are different from
noodle-they have one egg and
the dough is softer. Big bowls of
Kjielkje were on the table at least
twice a week. Katie Kasdorf
War ken tine, Hillsboro, Kansas,
remembers grandmothers warning children: "If you don't eat
Kjielkje, you don't get strong." My
husband heard it often as a farm
boy.
At Christmastime Mennonite women made huge pots of
Plumekjielkje,3 a one-dish meal of
wide noodles, oven-dried plums
and chunks of ham. Even in
summer it could be taken cold to
the field workers. Plumekjielkje
came to be considered almost a
national dish, says food historian
Dr. Ulrich Tolksdorf. 4 When
Grandmother Jost's family gathered for a 100th anniversary
5
California Mennonite Historical Society Bu!letin .
Kitchen
celebration, the formerly West
Prussian cousins from Germany
cooked up enormous pots of
Plumekjiclkje.
Plain to see, we were a
meat and Kjiclkje people. Root
vegetables-carrots, beets, turnips,
parsnips-and cabbage were
sclzmaud (stewed), soured, or
sometimes dried. Peas went into
porridge. My husband's grandfather, Heinrich A. Flaming, a wheat
farmer in Oklahoma, always said
he would get all of his vegetables
out of the flour sack.
All of our Mooses with
countless variations were part of
the Prussian diel-buttemlOosS,
sweet milk Mooss, Wotal1lo0SS
(water-based potato soup). Mooss
is a little like soup. Germans call it
Brei. Mennonites were also known
for their fine orchards' and the
fruit, fresh or dried, went into
summer fruit soups-wonderful
cherry, berry, apple, plum moosses-slightly thickened with
flour, lightly sweetened with
sugar plus a little spice. Our
standard holiday/Sunday dinner
menu of ham, fried potatoes and
Plumemoose comes from the
delta.
In 1547 Dutch farmers
were invited to help drain the
swampy lowlands along the
Vistula River. Eventually, through
years of back-breaking labor, they
transformed the marshy landscape
into productive farmland and
grassy meadows, ideal for dairy
farming. Interestingly, to the
women goes credit for making
their dairy ventures profitable
through developing earthenware
milk containers that allowed
cream to rise. They developed
churns and a fine "Mennonite
cheese" known as Tilsit (still
available today). In 1723 Mennonite women supplied the
Konigsberg market with 400 tons
of cheese. h Abundant milk and
cream made wonderful Moosses.
"Bread was always on lhe
table," remembered Mary Dirks
Janzen of her childhood in Russia.
Sourdough rye, dense and nourishing, sustained families in both
Holland and Prussia. Writer
Arnold Dyck commented: "When
a man works hard and requires
real nourishment, it's rye bread."7
Every old farmstead had its
outdoor oven/bakehouse H for
breadbaking-loaves generally
weighing 4-6 kilo; the oven
doubled for drying plums for
winter Kllchel1, Mooss, baked fruit
pockets, etc. Mennonites continued their Dutch custom of spreading bread with sweet marmalade,
lard, cracklings, sausages, or
cheese-something new and
appealing to their Werder neighbors. Breads with toppings
replaced the delta breakfast of
porridge"
For most Prussian farmers, the daily diet could be heavy,
greasy, monotonous and, simply
put, dull. Exceptions were holidays and Sunday. "Among the
Mennonites there was much
cooking and baking in preparation
for visitors," writes Siegfried
Rosenberg, a Werder folk historian. "They were especially
hospitable and considered it an
insult if a visitor left without
having coffee."11l
For Sundays and holidays
women brought out sacks of
wheat (or white) flour to which
they added milk, Fett (probably
lard) and sometimes eggs, transforming the dough into endless
varieties of KliChcl1 (coffee cakes)
or Platz-thin round yeast breads
with fruit topping. Birthdays
would be occasions for an array of
Striezel (in Low German, Stretscl),
butter-, raisin-, Molill (poppy
seed)-, or applestretsel.
Luis Schroeder, a native of
Danzig (later Winnipeg) remembers Christmas Pfcfferkllchcl1, a
spicy dough rolled out and baked
in a large pan. She spoke nostalgically: "It was the Danzig specialty
for Christmas, spiced with cinnamon, coriander, anise and lemon
peel. My mother made it with
almonds. On Christmas eve we
each got one square." Renate
Penner Lauf, Germany, added, "In
Danzig these Kuchen were baked
at other times, but at Christmas
Omas (grandmothers) added
almonds and citron and sometimes brushed them with
rosewater." Pfeffer (spice) kuchen
are among the very oldest of
recipes made with honey, syrup,
lard, wheat flour and eggs. In 1939
it was recorded that soldiers
carried slices of simple
Pfcfferkuchcll in their travel gear. II
Dutch Pcpcrnotcil
(peppernuts) may have come with
Mennonites from Holland to the
delta, we don't know. These crisp,
dime-sized cookies slices share a
long history with Pfiifcrkuclzell (see
above). Again, Luise Schroeder:
"In Danzig we always made
homemade peppernuts-milk
cans full." Mennonites who
moved on to Russia continued the
peppernut baking more frequently
than the Pfcfferkuchcn.
On New Year's Day the
sweet aroma of Portsclkjc (raisin
fritters) frying filled my
grandmother's kitchen. My father
and his little brothers stood beside
her, politely reciting a very old
Low German poem before winning a sugar-drenched fritter. For
centuries children in the Vistula
Delta have sung that same
Portsclkje song while going door to
door begging for a treat: "Ekj sach
eb Schornsteen ruake, Ekj wist
woll waut jie muake ... " (I saw
your chimney smoking; I knew
well what you're making-New
Year's Kuakc [fritters]). Some of
Please Sec ifF 0 lk ways " page 6
6
"Folkways" from page 5
you readers can finish it in
Plautdietsch.
"Fat cakes" -doughnuts,
crullers, fritters fried in deep fatwere a symbol of a prosperous
New Year all through the Low
Countries. Luise Schroeder
advises that the secret of good
Portselkje is the many eggs. You
must beat the egg whites separately until light, she says. From
Canada to California many homes
still celebrate the New Year baking
Portselkje. Others stand in long
lines at MCC relief sales, becoming again Werder children, patiently waiting for this heavenly
treat.
Zwieback baking has been
a part of Saturday's routine in
Mennonite kitchens since West
Prussian days. (This baking may
even reach back to the Netherlands.) For readers unfamiliar,
Zwieback are buttery-rich double
buns, one atop the other, baked by
the dozens for every Sunday
Faspa, holiday, wedding feast and
funeral meal. Ulrich Tolksdorf
notes that earlier, funeral Zwieback were dainty, the size of a
pocket watch.
Some ask, does Zwieback
or Tweeback (Low German) bean
California Mennonite Historical Society Bulletin
double buns, one atop the other?
Not so, says our authority Dr.
Tolksdorf. "Tweybacken means
white breaq, twice baked" 12 (baked
and toasted later). Zwieback were
popular ship's fare in the 17th
century. Danzig bakers made
"large zwieback" and sold them as
Schiffs Brot (ship's bread) to ships
docked in the Danzig harbor.13
This toasted brea<;i didn't get stale,
mold or mildew. Mennonite
families, fleeing Russia for North
America after the Revolution,
baked large wicker hampers with
Reeschkjes, (low German for
toasted Zwieback, which often
lasted the entire voyage. Once
again they became Schiffs Brot,
sustaining these families on their
long trek to a new homeland.
Migrations of people are
reflected in their foods. A friend
says, "tell me what you eat and I'll
tell you where you've lived." The
delta-now a land of grassy
meadows, old farmsteads, vanishing dikes and nearly-forgotten
windmills-gifted the Mennonite
kitchen with an abundance of
simple, hearty country foods.
Plain, yes, but good. Looking back
over 300 years, most of the old
recipes are gone.
Now, in this new land of
plenty, so prosperous and abundant in fresh foods, our cooking
has changed immensely. The
younger generation cooks differently. We cook American. Nott
often do we feast on Plumekjielkje.
However, remnants of that
Polish/Prussian kitchen endure:
our classic Mennonite bun,
Zwieback, refreshing summer fruit
soups (Moosses), centuries old
Christmas baking-Pfefferkuchen
and peppernuts, New Year's
Portseln/Portselkje and nearly
everyone loves waffles and Flinsen
(pancakes). These treasures from
the past linger in our contemporary American kitchen. We shall
keep them for our children and
grandchildren.
Sources
1. Rosenberg, Siegfried. Geschichte des
Kreises Grosses Werder (Schwentine,
Poland: Danziger Verlagsgesellschaft
Paul Rosenberg, 1940), p. 101.
2. Klassen, Peter J., A Homeland for
Strangers, An Introduction to Mennonites
in Poland and Prussia (Fresno, Califronia:
Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies,
1989), p. 15.
3. Tolksdorf, Ulrich. Essen und Trinken
in Ost- und West-Preussen (Marburg: E.G.
Elwert Verlag, 1975), p. 189.
4. Tolksdorf, pp. 187-189.
5. Tolksdorf, p. 189.
II
Rediscovering" from page 1
more widely known. Thus, in 1989 the Center for Mennonite Brethren
Studies in Fresno published A Homeland for Strangers: An Introduction to
Mennonites in Poland and frussia, by Peter J. Klassen. Also, in 1998
Dutch Mennonites published attractive brochures about early Mennonite settlement in the Vistula Delta. These were published in Polish,
Dutch and German; an English version is in preparation.
This issue of the Bulletin depicts some of the remarkable metamorphosis that has characterized Mennonite awareness of this aspect of
their heritage. The reader is invited to a journey into an important part
of the Mennonite past. Thousands of Mennonites today trace their
history back to ancestors who lived in the part of Poland that later
became part of Prussia. Subsequently, many of these moved to Russia,
and still later, to North and South America. Despite these migrations,
however, it must be emphasized that Mennonites maintained an unbroken presence in Poland-Prussia for more than four centuries-twice as
long as in Russia, and also longer than in North America.
6. Mennonite Encyclopedia, vol. 2
(Scottdale, Pennsylvania: Mennonite
Publsihing House, 1954) p. 312.
7. Dyck, Arnold. Lost in the Steppe
(Steinbach, Manitoba: Derksen Printers,
1977), p. 156.
8. Tolksdorf, p. 249.
9. Tolksdorf, pp. 264-267.
10. Rosenberg, p. 206.
11. Tolksdorf, p. 320.
12. Tolksdorf, p. 361.
13. Tolksdorf, p. 239.
Low German spelling is based on Kjenn
lie Noch Plautdietsch? A Low German
Dictionary, Winnipeg: by Herman
Rempel, Mennonite Literary Society.